Sunday, June 24, 2012

Warriors Draft Talk, Thoughts on Heat

OK, there's a new NBA Champion and we're just 4 days away from draft day. The Warriors appear ready and set to select a player at 7, as trade attempts have fallen through so far, but you never know what will happen until draft night.

Warriors looking at Waiters

Apparently the Warriors are still working on trying to obtain a veteran small forward with some of their draft picks, but the chances of that happening don't appear too likely. Therefore, unless they find a partner to swap with on draft night, they'll have to choose someone at pick-7, and it looks to me like they don't know quite who to take at this point. They worked out 7 more guys this week, but if they're leaning towards one guy or another, they've played it close to the vest. What I've gotten from all the reports I've read is the Warriors really haven't been all that impressed with the options they'll likely have at 7, which is a big reason why they've been trying so desperately to deal the pick. I still like Kentucky's Terrence Jones, who didn't shoot well in his workout but displayed his aggressiveness and abilities to rebound and play defense, two qualities this team needs badly. It sounds like he's fallen on most teams draft boards though, and Warriors GM Bob Myers said his team will take the best available player at 7, whether it's a guard, a forward or a center. In a perfect world, Harrison Barnes falls to them, but the name I keep hearing is the talented SG out of Syracuse, Dion Waiters.

Wade gets #2

We'll have a Draft Preview post before the draft and examine more closely a few of the players most likely in the Warriors' cross-hairs, but I also wanted to talk a bit about the NBA finals that just wrapped up. LeBron James was amazing, and deservedly won MVP of the series.But the two overlooked guys, in my mind, for the Champion Miami Heat is the
guy who brought them home the 2006 tittle, Dwayne Wade, and their
tremendous coach, Erik Spoelstra. After that loss to the Mavs last
season, I thought that Spoelstra would be the guy who would bear the
brunt of the failure and end up losing his job. However, all he did
during this playoff run was prove that he too learned from the 2011
upset to the Mavericks. He
took over a team with 3 guys that were always option number one for
their respective teams, and managed to get those 3 to not only mesh, but
play together like powerhouse. That's a leader for you. This is also
where I think D-Wade helped a lot. As great as LeBron is, Wade is older
and more mature than James, had been there before and won and seemed
willing to do whatever he had to in order to ensure the "Big Three"
would be successful. He went from being one of the leagues premiere
stars himself to playing 2nd fiddle to LeBron and did it terrifically,
and selflessly. Qualities that are hard to find in modern day NBA stars.